Authorities were called to the scene in Calabasas, a suburb of Los Angeles, just after 9am yesterday, said Steve Whitmore, spokesman for the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.

"There have been allegations made against Mr Bieber of battery and making threats," he said.

It was not clear who called authorities and whether there might have been previous problems between the 19-year-old singer and neighbours, Mr Whitmore said.

In recent years the Canadian singer has been constantly chased by paparazzi while publicly morphing from an almost angelic mop-topped teen to an adult battling a bad boy image.

Recently, Bieber lashed out at paparazzi and lunged at one photographer as members of the singer's entourage held him back. Last summer he got a speeding ticket while trying to avoid a bevy of photographers on a Los Angeles freeway in his distinctive chrome Fisker Karma.

He collapsed backstage during a recent London concert and cancelled a performance in Portugal.

Prosecutors decided against filing charges after the pop star was accused of kicking and punching a photographer outside a Calabasas cinema last May.

Earlier this year, Moshe Benabou, an ex-bodyguard, sued Bieber for alleged assault and more than £278,000 in unpaid wages, claiming Bieber repeatedly punched him in the chest after an argument over the singer's entourage.